Rising to the League's Top
March 2, 2006 

By Christopher Wade
For the Charleston Daily Mail

Of the thousands of players who have played women's basketball in the West Virginia Conference, the University of Charleston's Lisa Lee stands alone.

Lee, a 6-foot senior forward from Capital High, needed 18 points Wednesday in a quarterfinal matchup against West Virginia Wesleyan to become the WVC's all-time leading scorer.

That's how many points Lee scored in helping lead second-seeded UC to a 75-61 victory over No. 7 Wesleyan (11-18) at the Charleston Civic Center.

UC (26-2) advanced to the semifinals Friday, where the Golden Eagles will play No. 3 Wheeling Jesuit (26-3) - the only WVC team to defeat the Eagles this season at 1 p.m. at the Civic Center.

The record-breaking basket came with 5:50 left when Lee grabbed a Laura Kinsler miss and hit the putback to give UC a 67-51 advantage.

"This accomplishment is big but it's hard to sit back and think about it right now when I'm so focused on what we need to do as a team," Lee said. "I'm sure one day I'll be able to look back on it and enjoy it but right now, I have to stay focused."

Lee is one of only five players in WVIAC history to score at least 2,000 points in her career. Lee has 2,151 points during her four years at UC, breaking the record held by West Liberty's Melissa Hammond (1989-93).

The other 2,000-point scorers are West Virginia State's Donna Gordon with 2,060 points (1985-88); Alderson-Broaddus' Sandy Chisar with 2,054 points (1979-83); Concord's Jina Skinner with 2,050 points (1989-92); and Fairmont State's Kristen Gattuso with 2,041 points (2001-05).

"The thing with Lisa is that she has been here for four years and has been a great player for the whole time, and that's hard to do at this or any level," said UC Coach Sherry Winn.

"People say ‘Oh, it's easy with her because she's so talented,' but Lisa works so hard and that's the reason she's as good as she is. She works so hard in not just games but practice and the off-season as well."

Another UC standout, junior Courtney Thomas, who is the second-leading scorer on the team and scored a game-high 20 points against Wesleyan, acknowledged the reason she came to UC three years ago.

"Lisa is phenomenal and is the reason I came to UC," Thomas said. "I love playing with her because I know where she's always going to be. She is unbelievable and I'm just so happy for her to get the record."

Things weren't looking so easy for Lee and the rest of the UC players early, as Wesleyan hung tough with the heavily favored Eagles.

UC led by one point with 3:46 remaining in the first half but went on a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to lead 39-25 at halftime.

"The way it turned out was that run they made was basically the ballgame," said Wesleyan Coach Steve Tierney. "I preached to them that they needed to keep their concentration level but we just couldn't for that little stretch.

"When runs come like that, you have got to weather them and find a way to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, we couldn't tonight."

The sluggish start by the Eagles could have been the result of a long layoff.

"We hadn't played in nine days so it takes time to get back going," Thomas said. "At that time of the game, we knew we needed someone to step up and we were able to do that."

"We knew we weren't playing to our potential," Lee said. "We just have the want right now. We want to do so well and win it all so bad."

In order to win the conference title, the Eagles must go through Wheeling Jesuit to reach the championship game. The Cardinals defeated the Eagles 73-69 in Wheeling on Feb. 13th.

That loss is still fresh on the minds of the UC players, especially with the supposed wild celebration of the Wheeling players and fans.

"It was pretty crazy up there after the game," Lee said. "Afterwards, their coach (Joe Key) told me he hopes they don't see us again. Well, he's got us now." We will be ready. We want this so bad."